August 16, 2017

Luz de Maria Montejo D. presented her Plant Sciences M.S. thesis, Rust Resistance in the Guatemalan Climbing Bean Germplasm Collection on Thursday, July 27, 2017. Montejo’s project assessed the race diversity of 17 bean rust isolates collected from the Western Guatemalan Highlands; evaluated infection types of climbing bean germplasm from Guatemala to rust race 31-1, 63-1 (Guatemala), and 20-3 (North Dakota); and identified the genomic regions on climbing beans that were associated with rust resistance using a genome-wide association study.

The identified resistant germplasm accessions will be useful as prospective parents to reduce seed yield loss and improve bean cultivars in Guatemala, Montejo D.’s home country, and perhaps other countries or regions with bean rust problems.

After receiving her Bachelor’s degree in Agronomy from Zamorano University, Honduras, Montejo D. interned with Dr. James Steadman, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Department of Plant Pathology, before accepting a M.S. position with NDSU. Montejo D. was inducted into Gamma Sigma Delta (2017) and received first place for her poster entry at the 33^rd Annual Plant Science Graduate Student Symposium (2017).

In the future, Montejo D. will work in her home country to gain experience and then pursue her doctoral degree.

Montejo D.’s committee consisted of Dr. Phillip McClean, Dr. Elias Elias, and Dr. Samuel Markell. Her adviser was Dr. Juan Osorno.

Source: Luz de Maria Montejo D.
Author: Shannon Ueker (shannon.ueker@ndsu.edu, 701-231-7971)
Editor: Karen Hertsgaard (karen.hertsgaard@ndsu.edu, 701-231-5384)